After a simple but modest dinner, the visitors from Cecil visited the Typhon camp, the barracks, towers, and walls made of magical power, the "sub-towers" of the barrier under construction, and the large mage quarter, after which the sunlight behind the foul clouds was approaching the horizon, and before nightfall, Gawain and the others were ushered into the "rooms" of the Rosetta Palace.

The so-called guest rooms are also made of magical stones, and the dusty materials are no different from the other buildings in the Pinnacle Base, but the owner of this place has clearly managed to enhance the taste and comfort of the rooms with additional decorations, such as Typhon-style tapestries, long-haired carpets, and large oil paintings that offset the cold texture of the "artificial stone house", and in his own room, Gawain also saw a complete set of fine wooden furniture, gold-encrusted porcelain, silver lampstands, and a collection of books large enough to pass the time- As a pinnacle base adjacent to the Gondor wasteland, having a room like this is already a luxury.

After the waiter informed him of the time and place of the dinner, Gawain closed the door and went to the bookshelf on the west side of the room, where Amber's figure appeared beside him.

Miss Half-Elf is at least dutiful at the moment: "No surveillance items have been found, and the shadow forces in the vicinity are very calm. ”

"Of course not, Rosetta? Augustus wasn't so rash and reckless—it's not so easy to spy on a legend," Gawain said casually, his gaze sweeping over the shelf, "...... A Brief Account of the Vicissitudes of Heraldry in the Northern Continent...... If I had to pass the time with this kind of stuff, I'm afraid I'd only get more bored. ”

Amber looked Gawain up and down a few times, and after pondering for a long time, she couldn't help but speak: "To be honest, I can't understand you a little bit today......

"What don't you understand?" Gao Wen had long expected that this half-elf would definitely hold back his stomach, and he also expected that the other party would definitely not be able to hold it back, so he smiled and said with a smile when he heard the words.

Amber opened her mouth, as if she was about to ask a question, but at the last second before she could speak, she bit her lip vigorously, looked around quickly, and finally puffed out her face: "I don't ask!" ”

Gao Wen was stunned, and the smile on his face suddenly became a hint of relief: "Very good." ”

You can never underestimate others, you can never lose your vigilance in an unfamiliar environment, even if you check it many times, you must keep the last line of secrets, it turns out that this half-elf is definitely not stupid if he is really willing to use his brain.

After casually complimenting Amber, Gawain turned his attention away from the books that did not interest him, and casually asked, "What do you think about this camp?" ”

He knew that Amber must have seen most of the camp, whether Typhon had taken it with or without it, and she must have memorized a lot more details than anyone else had seen - this guy wasn't very good at fighting head-on, but it was still very desirable only when he was a detective.

After that, what he wants to say to Amber will no longer involve long-term planning or confidentiality, and he will not worry about being overheard.

Amber thought for a moment and said very bluntly: "In my opinion, the people of Typhon are so rich, too rich and too rich!" ”

"Oh?"

"You should also be able to tell that this camp is almost entirely shaped by magical power, I checked the situation in their camp and mage area, and I confirmed that they have gathered at least eight hundred low-level to mid-level mages here, and the task of these transcendents here is to 'build houses'," Amber said with a serious face, "Relying on these mages, the construction speed of this base should not be slower than ours, and the efficiency in all aspects is not worse than ours, and it may even be more efficient." ”

"Typhon began to implement the systematic and professional management of the transcendents more than ten years ago, and used all kinds of transcendental powers for production and development, and they also imitated the newborn screening system of the ancient Gondor Empire, and actively cultivated transcendents from the whole people and infants, which led to their overall number of transcendents almost twice that of Ansu, and there is also an extremely advanced management system to ensure that all transcendents are registered and have their own responsibilities," Gawain said unhurriedly, "Most of the mages you see here should be called' Engineering mages', they have been trained from the beginning of their exposure to magical powers, and almost all of the spells they master are related to construction, while within Typhon, there are tens of thousands of similar 'full-time mages'. ”

Amber's eyes widened, and she was speechless for a while: "......"

Gao Wen looked at her funny: "What are you thinking?" ”

"Do you think they will accept me if I commit treason?"

"Why don't you try?"

Amber shrunk her neck: "No, I'm afraid of being killed." ”

Gawain smiled, not paying attention to the little joke, and casually commented, "As you can see, Typhon is indeed strong, but on the other hand...... They're not very smart, either. ”

Amber blinked, and had somewhat guessed what Gawain meant: "You think they're wasteful, don't you......"

"Yes, it's a huge waste - the researchers were actually used by them on the construction site," Gao Wen shook his head with a look of regret, "The mage is a researcher, a person who is engaged in invention and creation, how can it be wasted on the construction site?!" If you want me to say, they should not be regarded as combat force on the battlefield, nor as labor in the production process, but should all be sent to the laboratory!

"You see eight hundred mages here, and they are building a base at any faster than our mechanization, or even faster than us, but if you give it to me, I will turn these eight hundred mages into researchers, let them study more advanced magic machinery, more advanced alchemy materials, and research technologies that can widely replicate their efficient spells, and then I can spread these technologies to 800,000 ordinary workers, so that each of these workers can play as much as one' Engineering Mage's efficiency, that's the right way to use knowledge. ”

Amber blinked, and in Gawain's short outlook and description, she finally intuitively felt where the true power of the "Magic Guided Industry" was embodied.

Gao Wen exhaled, and after the righteous remarks, he couldn't help but shake his head and said: "However, there is a problem, a very real problem that is bothering us......

"What's the problem?"

"Like you said, Typhon is so rich, so rich...... There are money, there are people, there are resources......" Gawain sighed, "We can indeed 'arm' 800,000 workers with the technological achievements of eight hundred mages, and Typhon ...... I'm afraid they can really pull out 800,000 engineering mages to ......"

Amber: "......"

Gawain sighed: "This is called money ability." ”

Amber looked sluggish: "Monetary ability...... How can you describe it like that......"

There is no such thing as "money" in this world, and Gawain directly used the word "money" and the word "skill" to create the word "money ability", and it is clear that Amber understands what it means.

So, after understanding the true source of the power of the Wizard Industry, Amber also understands why, even with a weapon like the Wizard Industry, Gawain still regards Typhon as the most powerful and fearsome enemy.

She glanced at Gawain, vaguely aware of something.

No matter what business this man wants to do with Emperor Typhon, whether he wants to accept Typhon's cotton dumping or help the Typhonians build the railway, his only purpose next is ......

It's all about dealing with the "money ability" of the Typhonians.

……

Winter snow is flying, and the coldest season of the year has fallen on this land.

In the plain of the Holy Spirit, in an unnamed village half a day's horseback ride from White Pine Town, the snow has not reached the surface of the feet, but this snowfall is only the beginning, and the snowflakes are still falling.

This white God-given thing covers everything indiscriminately, blurring the ridges and ravines, the roads and the wasteland, and the boundaries between heaven and earth, and the nameless village seems to be a pile of stones in the snow, and the man-made buildings are being wrapped in silver in the falling snow. During this perilous cold day, families closed their doors and windows, sealed every hole in the dilapidated wall to prevent the loss of precious heat, and people hid in sheltered rooms that could protect themselves from the wind and snow, while conserving their strength and heat while hoping to survive the winter safely, while listening with concern to every creak from the roof.

A village in the snow, a silence.

Yet under the snow, in the cellar of a longhouse somewhere, a secret meeting was taking place.

Cheap and inferior candles were placed on the long mottled and worn table, the flickering candlelight made the whole cellar shadowed, and the long table was placed with clay pots, daggers, stone chips, etc., and some kind of red paint painted on the table with strange and eerie magical symbols and chilling distorted images, and around the long table, a dozen figures in tattered clothes were sitting solemnly in the candlelight, and a dozen pairs of implicit fanatical eyes were watching the two figures beside the long table.

The two figures were quite tall, wearing gray-black shabby smock blouses, and iron death talismans hanging from their necks, like corpse draggers.

"Brothers and sisters, the day of deliverance from suffering is coming......

One of the corpse draggers said with his hands outstretched, as if preaching.

"Accept this gift, O afflicted!"

Another dragging corpse bent down and prayed as he picked up a clay pot containing some kind of liquid from the table.

The people around the long table stood up one after another, with a certain anticipation, with a certain fanaticism, and asked the man in the gray and black blouse with the clay pot to smear the dark red liquid from the clay pot on their foreheads.

"After receiving this gift...... and then you will be able to get out of this day of suffering, not after death, not for the afterlife, and the kingdom of heaven on earth will be just around the corner......"

"The Day of Affliction ...... the Breakaway"

"Heaven on Earth......

"Just around the corner......

The sound of chanting and prayer echoed in the secret cellar, and above the cellar, in the longhouse that towered in the wind and snow, several pairs of cold and vigilant eyes were clinging to the narrow slit of the window panel, staring at the world in the wind and snow.

In the surrounding houses, in almost every house in the village, the same cold and wary eyes were pasted behind every window.

……

Eastern Whitsunday Plains, Fort Solin.

Snowflakes are also falling on the land.

A procession of knights entered the city in the early afternoon, their armor and equipment, even their horses were draped in the finest wire chain mail and wore talismans that soothed the spirits and strengthened their endurance, and they rode from the widest avenue of the main entrance, and everyone in their path, including the soldiers on patrol, immediately chose to retreat in awe when they saw the insignia on the knights' bodies.

The images with black swords crossed on those insignia, are Silas, the Duke of the East? Loren's mark.

At the head of the team, the young Marquis Belk, who was fully armoured? Loren controlled the speed of his horse's movement, as well as the speed of the whole team, in case these slightly rude men would injure the pedestrians along the street (although there were hardly any pedestrians on the streets on these snowy days), and he raised his head to look at the majestic castle on the high ground not far away.

After spending so long in the safety of the rear, spending the day either dealing with the irritating local nobles or watching the Cecil people blow the White Sand Hills to the ground (and now he suspected that the Cecilians might even be planning to blow the place into a White Sand Pit), Belk felt that his patience and sharpness would be worn out sooner or later, but thankfully, he had finally received orders to return to Thollinburg.

The young Marquis straightened his back and met all eyes with the most impeccable knightly gesture - even if there was no crowd around him. He looked at the streets in the middle of winter, thinking about what he needed to report after meeting his father and Prince Edmund.

The situation in the White Sand Hills must be kept informed, and the fact that the Cecil wants to build a new road must be kept known to His Royal Highness in time, in addition to reporting on the subsidence of the bandits in the two realms, and much more...... There are also cases where the low-level aristocracy does not seriously implement the "Serf Freedom Decree" and the "Land Replacement Law".